The dogs with the loudest barks are the ones that are most afraid.
Norman Reedus

Awe!!! I want to begin by saying that I don't like people lol. 

I don't like the need to attack and defend...to be right at all costs...that people possess.  I don't like the gossip and the lies...the drama and the over exaggeration people spread in order to be "right".  I do not like the villianization of others so one can bask in the light of martyrdom and victimhood in order to rationalize their behaviour or to feel better. 

I don't like projection of lower emotions and qualities like fear onto others so humans  do not have to deal with those things in themselves. I don't like contempt.  I do not like the desire to exclude the unwanted and  or include the selected few.  I don't like anger, vengefulness and self-righteousness. I don't like narcissism and ego-centrism. 

I don't like selfishness.  I don't like the sense of entitlement so many seem to possess these days  and the attack that follows when needs are not met the way they were expected to be met. I don't like ingratitude and disrespect.

I don't like the lack of accountability and the blatant irresponsibility I see lately. I don't like dishonesty and manipulation. I don't like blame and unfair accusation. I don't like the mistreatment of people, animals, nature  based on judgment and assumption with disregard for the truth. Most importantly, I don't like to be the target for all that lol...that's the real problem. Who am I kidding?  I don't like it directed my way.  :)

But... oh.... what a wonderful lesson life provides us, when it is directed our way.  It gives us an opportunity to take a good long look at ourselves to see not only if there is any truth behind that judgment that will help us to grow and be accountable for our behaviour...but it also allows us to see that the very same "crap" that is being flung at us...is the same crap we have the potential and possibly the past experience of flinging at others.  The old saying about the karmic wheel is true: What goes around, comes around.  

It makes one want to re-examine how we treat others when we are the recipient of such unwanted drama. We can empathize with those we shunned, judged, attacked, ridiculed, lied about, created stories about...feeling the pain we must have caused them with our deeds. We also feel the pain the realization of hurting another causes us. There is no winning here.  When we are attacked...it hurts.  When we do attack.... it hurts even more in the long run.  Attack, in whatever form it comes in, brings pain.  It is an unnecessary pain because attack is unnecessary.  Anything that comes from the ego is unnecessary.

I never really meant what I said in the opening.  It is not people I do not like...just ego.  :)  I see the ugly effects of ego in myself and I see it in others.  I see how, if we let it,  it will damage the  state of peace we are meant to experience. 

Nope...I am not particularly fond of dealing with  the human ego.  I prefer being around animals more than people because animals  do not have egos, they don't do the drama thing or play games.  Ego can be nasty!!! I know what I see in others, is definitely in me.  That's the scary part.

My outward world reflects this ego ...my ego.  Certain neighbors  have become gatekeepers in this community...deciding who belongs and who doesn't.  If one speaks their mind openly and honestly and shows little concern for social etiquette or a need to belong...they are outcasted. Attempts are then made to get the unwanted out of the neighborhood.  Add fear or even a full fledged but undealt with phobia in a person who tends to be a little narcissistic to the mix and things go flying out of control very quickly. 

The fear is projected outward onto other people and other things.  Instead of saying "I am afraid" because that puts the individual in a vulnerable position...the person deals with the  unwanted fear response aggressively by blaming someone else for having the thing they are afraid of.

In order to rationalize their vulnerability they over exaggerate the situations, spin the web, make someone the villain, and they themselves the brave victim who is out to protect the entire neighborhood... all in an attempt to eliminate the source of their fear.

Aggression gives us power and we tend to use it when we feel the most threatened. This is done by unjust accusations and reports to police and animal control...an over exaggeration of incidents to the point of lying ...spreading of malignant gossip that other neighbors absorb like thirsty sponges...and creating an image of the target human as someone who needs to be removed for the betterment of the neighborhood. All because the person is afraid.

The thing about a phobia is...it doesn't go away when you eliminate a trigger.  I mean the reaction does and there is momentary relief but the phobia doesn't go away.  There will be other triggers...more reactions...and the more you avoid the source of fear...the bigger and more intense the phobia actually becomes. 

Even if this neighbor is successful in getting rid of me and my dogs...there will always be other dogs who bark...some of those dogs might even be vicious.  My dogs are not vicious. They sound scary...especially when they are all barking at once...and one looks scary weighing in at 80-100 lbs...but they are not vicious. They bark at first but before long they are wagging their tails, sniffing and leaving the source of their curiosity alone. Of course if you run by them...they may chase but once they caught up they wouldn't do anything.

I can understand why someone would be afraid if they are walking by the house and the larger dog is off leash and heads toward the end of the yard and starts barking at them...especially when they have a baby carriage with them.  Yes...that would be scary and even scarier if you have this supressed fear of dogs anyway. But that's all they do is bark.  They do not even leave the property when they bark.

 But the story has been spun that they come running out at the neighbors snarling and bearing teeth, nipping at their ankles, attacking them.  It has been reported that my dogs are vicious and out of control, always at large and seldom restrained... that the individuals with babies and small children  are concerned about their safety.  They jeopardize public safety?

Come on! First of all, have you ever heard of any dog...vicious or not... snatching a baby from the carriage  while its pushed down the road?  Secondly, if someone was so concerned about the baby's safety why would they push the carriage in front of my house, where there is supposedly, "wild, vicious, unrestrained dogs with neighbors who do not do anything about them" twice a day when there is an alternate route that is shorter and easier? For the sheer purpose of creating drama.

Of course, egos  disguised as neighbors like the juicy gossip, they like to judge and condemn and accept the untruths as truths.  They like having a black sheep to focus their attention on so they do not have to deal with themselves.  They succumb to such stories and they  too become afraid, talk, judge and condemn  as the drama spins out of control. When I say they, I should say we...and when I say we...I am referring to our ego driven selves...not who we really are.

I am sure this neighbor who is attacking me...is not a vicious and malicious person. I want to believe her fear is the only vicious thing in this drama...that's  all.  Her fear is of the ego.  Her ego is encouraging her to attack and create this drama to justify her response.  I am not above that...that could be me if I let my ego take over. 

I just get so astounded when I see how much damage the ego can do if we let it.  How nasty it can get. 

What she is doing to me is not that nice but little does she know that what she is doing to herself is so much worse.  If she doesn't admit to her phobia and own up to it and abandon her unhealthy and impossible mission to control all external circumstances that trigger it ...this phobia, her anger, her need for retribution  and her ego are going to keep spinning out of control.  She will hurt herself.  She will get caught in a lie.  The truth about this situation will eventually be known to all but until then...I believe she is suffering more than I am over this.  For that reason, I am driven towards a certain empathy for her plight.

 I do not want anyone to be afraid.  I just want peace.  I am going to my best to let it all go and not be overly concerned about other opinion  unless it is based on solid truth and it is determined from that truth that a change is called for. I already spent way too much time an energy on this matter lol.  The police are coming tonight as charges are pending.  I will conserve my mental energy for that. I do not need to be right.  I just need peace.  I can be kind in order to achieve that.  This drama will end eventually even if it is just ending in my mind.  That is all that matters anyway.

All is well in my world.